Tech & Innovation Trade Mission to Australia

Date : 23-26 February 2021

Location : Airmeet

The ‘Tech & Innovation’ virtual trade mission to Australia that was held from 23-26 February 2021 was a firstof-its kind event for the Chamber, with support from partners, Government and industry. The Chamber had led 20 trade missions to Australia in the past; due to Covid19, this 21st trade mission was facilitated virtually. The objective of the virtual trade mission was to help develop a hands-on understanding of market/collaboration opportunities within the Australian and Indian tech ecosystem through curated roundtables with industry experts, business and academia and for delegates to explore new opportunities for business partnerships and understand the investment landscape through targeted B2B/B2G meetings. It also provided an opportunity to hear from senior government leadership on the IT landscape in India/Australia and on the priorities in the background of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) between India and Australia.

The virtual trade mission was inaugurated by The Hon Dan Tehan MP, Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, Government of Australia and there was a key note address from The Hon Stuart Ayres MP, New South Wales, Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and Western Sydney. Mr. Deepak Padaki, Vice President, IACC gave the Welcome address, while Opening remarks were delivered by H.E. Gitesh Sarma IFS, former Indian High Commissioner to Australia and Mr. Bryce Hutchesson, former Australian Deputy High Commissioner to India. The inaugural session concluded with a Vote of thanks from Mr. John Kenny, former Chairperson, Bengaluru Chapter, IACC. This was followed by a successful roundtable discussion and two fireside chats. The sector-specific sessions took place over the next 3.5 days, focusing on Agri Tech, E-commerce & Retail Tech, Ed Tech, Fintech, Health Tech and R&D and Innovation.

In the Closing session, Ms. Petula Thomas, CEO, IACC summarised some of the actionable insights and key outcomes from this initiative, which would be presented to both the Indian and Australian Governments in the form of a report with recommendations. Opening remarks were delivered by Mr. Manish Gupta, Consul General, Consulate General of India in Sydney and a special address by Thiru M.C. Sapmath, former Minister for Industries, Government of Tamil Nadu. There was a keynote addresses from Mr. Peter N. Varghese AO, Chancellor, University of Queensland and Author, India Economic Strategy (IES) to 2035 and Ambassador Anil Wadhwa, Author, Australia Economic Strategy (AES). Mr. Bhavik Damodar, Office Managing Partner – Mumbai and Partner – Deal Advisory, KPMG, shared his views on next steps and opportunities for further collaboration. Mr. Suresh Raman, Board/EC member and VP & Regional Head, Tata Consultancy Services gave the Vote of thanks.

The Opening and Closing sessions were moderated by the Chamber’s CEO Ms. Petula Thomas, who led on conceptualising and managing this event, with strong support from the two Co-Chairs, Mr. Deepak Padaki and Mr. Suresh Raman, the Working Group for this initiative (including Mr. Michael Costa Deputy Consul General, Australian Consulate General, Chennai), representatives from the Bengaluru and Western India Chapters, KPMG, the Knowledge Partner and the Secretariat team.

This initiative included 17 sessions, 82 speakers (41 from India and 41 from Australia), 35 delegates for B2B/ B2G meetings (22 from India and 13 from Australia), 11 Sponsors/Partners and 10 Supporting partners including the Australian Government in India and the Indian High Commission in Australia. This trade mission’s extensive 4-week online marketing campaign from the Chamber, Sponsors and Supporting partners, covering various channels ensured it reached out to a highly targeted audience. There were 99 posts on LinkedIn which had around 40,400 impressions and 1,374 follower activity. The sessions were streamed live on Airmeet (event platform) and the Chamber’s YouTube channel that had approx. 2,500+ views and 919 reactions.